SIOUX FALLS, SD - MARCH 6: Macy Miller gets a hug from teammate Ellie Thompson following the South Dakota State Jackrabbits 65-50 win over the University of South Dakota at the 2018 Summit League Basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. (Photo by Dave Eggen/Inertia)
Dave Eggen/Inertia, Dave Eggen/Inertia

SIOUX FALLS, SD - MARCH 6: Ellie Thompson #45 of South Dakota State goes up for a shot over the arms of Allison Arens #10 and Taylor Frederick #15 of South Dakota at the 2018 Summit League Basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. (Photo by Dick Carlson/Inertia)
Dick Carlson/Inertia, Dick Carlson/Inertia

SDSU's Ellie Thompson and Macy Miller hug when the buzzard goes off after their win against USD Tuesday, March 6, during the Summit League basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader

SDSU's Ellie Thompson takes the shot against USD's Chloe Lamb during the game Tuesday, March 6, during the Summit League basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader

SDSU's Ellie Thompson takes the shot against USD's Jaycee Bradley in the game Tuesday, March 6, during the Summit League basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader

SDSU's Ellie Thompson attempts to score a point during the game against Western Illinois during the Summit League basketball tournament Monday, March 5, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.
Briana Sanchez / Argus Leader

SIOUX FALLS, SD - MARCH 5: Olivia Braun #3 of Western Illinois defends Ellie Thompson #45 of South Dakota State as she drives to the hoop at the 2018 Summit League Basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. (Photo by Dick Carlson/Inertia)
Dick Carlson/Inertia, Dick Carlson/Inertia

Stanford's Alanna Smith, right, drives the ball against South Dakota State's Ellie Thompson (45) in the second half of a second-round women's college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Monday, March 21, 2016, in Stanford, Calif.
Ben Margot, AP

Stanford's Briana Roberson, left, looks to pass away from South Dakota State's Ellie Thompson in the first half of a second-round women's college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament on Monday in Palo Alto, Calif.
Ben Margot, AP

SIOUX FALLS, SD - MARCH 5: Olivia Braun #3 of Western Illinois defends Ellie Thompson #45 of South Dakota State as she drives to the hoop at the 2018 Summit League Basketball tournament at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. (Photo by Dick Carlson/Inertia)(Photo: Dick Carlson/Inertia, Dick Carlson/Inertia)

The 6-foot-1 Thompson had spent her entire career playing alongside 6-3 Clarissa Ober and the two had forged an effective frontcourt duo. But now with Ober graduated (after twice winning Summit League defensive player of the year), Thompson was being asked to replace her former teammate, and it wasn’t going so well, at least for her.

But the Jacks were 7-2 against a challenging non-conference schedule. If Thompson was pressing, she didn’t show it.

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Profile on women's basketball player Ellie Thompson. Courtesy SDSU.

“It’s hard to get down on yourself when you’re part of a successful team,” said the Chaska, Minn., native. “We were having success and winning games. If we’d been struggling and I’d felt like it was because of me I would’ve had a different attitude about it. But since we were being successful, I didn’t feel the need to worry about myself as much."

That tells you about all you need to know about Thompson, who had averaged 13.5 points and 7.0 rebounds to earn Summit League all-conference honors last year as a junior. Her numbers were down and suddenly the frontcourt looked like a potential weakness for SDSU, one that could keep them out of the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.

But Thompson figured it out. She shot 57 percent from the floor in 14 Summit League games, averaging 9.7 points and 6.0 rebounds to earn her second straight All-Summit League honor. That included a spot on the all-Summit League tournament team after Thompson played perhaps her best basketball of the year during the three-game surge in Sioux Falls.

In the Jacks’ convincing 65-50 win over USD in the title game she had 14 points and six rebounds, hitting 7 of 10 shots from the floor and helping SDSU outscore the Coyotes 36-16 in the paint to avenge a pair of regular-season losses to their rivals.

“I’m really proud of her,” said teammate and Summit League player of the year Macy Miller. “It’s tough to move from the four, where you can beat people off the dribble, to now you’re on the block against big posts, especially when we were playing Power 5 teams in non-conference. But she never lost focus. She was in after practice working on post moves and putting in the work, and she had some big games and stepped up when we needed her.”

Coach Aaron Johnston points out, as Miller did, that some of Thompson’s struggles were related to the competition. At 6-1 she’s undersized for a center, and several of SDSU’s early opponents had posts in the 6-3 and 6-4 range. It was difficult for Thompson to score on players like that. But the coach said Thompson didn’t change her game so much as find the fortitude to demand more of herself and fight through adversity.

Johnston also took some of the blame, suggesting the coaches might have coddled her early by not wanting to ask too much of her as she transitioned to a new position.

So Thompson doubled down on her defense while waiting for the offense to come around, and most importantly, never got frustrated or lost confidence when she faced difficulty.

“A lot of kids would’ve got down on themselves but it just seemed to motivate Ellie,” said teammate Madison Guebert. “I think everyone on our team always had faith she’d get it going.”

Thompson said the biggest adjustment wasn’t the change in position as much as learning to play without Ober. Missing the NCAA tournament last year, and not wanting to suffer the same fate as a senior, was also a major incentive.

South Dakota State's Ellie Thompson drives the baseline against North Dakota State's Reily Jacobson Wednesday at the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.(Photo: David Samson, Forum Communications Co.)

“By about the second half of the conference season I realized this is my last hurrah,” said Thompson, who enters the NCAA tournament with 1,262 career points and 767 rebounds (one more than Ober for seventh most in team history). “It’s not like I was suddenly trying to score more or anything, it was more about just leaving everything on the court. Making every second count – that became my mentality.”

It happened just in time, helping the Jacks coast through the Summit League tournament to land an 8-seed in the Big Dance. When SDSU takes on Villanova in the first round on Friday in Indiana, Thompson will give them a viable third scoring threat alongside Miller and Guebert.

“I don’t know that we’re in this position today without how she’s played,” Johnston said. “As a senior you love to see her do that. It’s really a team thing, but I’m happy for her individually, too. She’ll walk away from her senior year feeling good about how she answered the bell when we were a team that really needed someone to step up.”